Tissot UCI Track World Championships: Fourth gold in five days for Lavreysen

Dutch top the medals table

The final day of the 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Santiago (Chile) saw Harrie Lavreysen (the Netherlands), Yareli Acevedo (Mexico), Elia Viviani (Italy), and the Belgian duo of Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio van den Bossche deliver memorable performances as they respectively ruled the men’s individual sprint, the women’s points race, the men’s elimination race and the men’s Madison.

A total of 22 UCI World Champion titles were awarded across the five days of competition (22-26 October). Oranje stars claimed nine, matching Great Britain’s record from 2008. Team GB follows with four titles. In all, ten nations won rainbow jerseys in Santiago: following the Netherlands and Great Britain, Italy earned two, while Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, and Spain took one each.

Men’s sprint: Lavreysen takes it all

Harrie Lavreysen already occupied a unique spot at the very top of his discipline’s history when he came to Santiago, and he managed to surpass himself in the Peñalolén Velodrome. Winner of the team sprint on Wednesday, the keirin on Thursday and the kilometre time trial on Friday, the Dutch powerhouse went on to rule the individual sprint this weekend to become the first rider ever to win four titles in a single edition of the UCI Track World Championships.

Showing the best version of himself, Lavreysen got the better of his longtime rival Matthew Richardson (Great Britain) in two straight heats in the final for gold. His tally is now up to 20 rainbow jerseys, pushing further away from previous record holder, Frenchman Arnaud Tournant (14). In the final for bronze, Australia’s Leigh Hoffman dominated Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul to take a third medal this week.

“I think it’s incredible,” Lavreysen said. “This week went perfectly for me. It was really hard to win four disciplines and I was really happy I could recover from everything and still have everything left for today.”

Women’s points race: Acevedo Mendoza’s delight

Mexico’s Yareli Acevedo Mendoza attacked again and again in the women’s points race, lapping the field on three occasions, including in the very final rush, to jump to first place and eventually claim victory with 63 points.

Great Britain’s Anna Morris won the final sprint to claim silver (58 points) and New Zealand’s Bryony Botha (56) rounded out a hard-fought podium ahead of Australia’s Alexandra Manly (54), Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen (52), Germany’s Lea Lin Teutenberg (51), Italy’s Federica Venturelli (50), Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino (50)…

“It's the result of all my hard work, perseverance and dedication to this beautiful sport,” an emotional Acevedo Mendoza said as she took Mexico’s second rainbow jersey in the history of the Tissot UCI Track World Championships, 24 years after Nancy Contreras won the time trial. “This is for all of Mexico, it belongs to Mexico, we are World Champions.”

Men’s elimination race: Viviani’s golden last dance

Italy’s Elia Viviani bade a spectacular farewell, retiring from professional cycling with a third UCI World Champion title in the elimination, after previous success in 2021 and 2022. The Italian never missed the podium in his favourite event, also claiming bronze in 2023 and silver in 2024.

In addition to his many successes on the road, Viviani’s record also includes a track Olympic Champion title in 2016 and an extraordinary collection of European Champion jerseys, including for the Madison, the points race, the omnium, and the team pursuit.

“As an athlete, you look back and sure you think you could have done this or that,” the new retiree reflected. “But I won a lot, on the road, on the track, and if I need to pick one moment, it’s the Rio Olympics medal. The feeling when you reach that level can’t be replicated in other events.”

In Santiago, he showed his physical, tactical and mental mastery to get back to the top step of the podium, ahead of New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart and the Netherlands' Yoeri Havik.

Women’s keirin: Sato doubles up

The women’s keirin was the only sprint event in Santiago that the Netherlands didn’t win, after both Hetty van de Wouw and Steffie van der Peet were dominated by their rivals in the semi-finals. At the end of the day, it was Japan’s Mina Sato who ruled the final, repeating her success from 2024.

At the time, she was the first Japanese rider to claim the rainbow jersey in the women’s keirin. She’s now the fifth rider to retain the title after France’s Clara Sanchez (2004, 2005), Australian Anna Meares (2011, 2012), and Germany’s Kristina Vogel (2016, 2017) and Lea Sophie Friedrich (2021, 2022).

“I didn’t think I was gonna win this title so it really means a lot to me,” Sato said with a massive grin. “I won thanks to my coach. He gave me the tactic for the win.”

Also the silver medallist in the individual sprint, the Japanese sprinter took the reins early in the keirin final and fended off Olympic Champion Emma Finucane (Great Britain), who had to settle for silver. At only 19 years of age, Colombia’s Stefany Cuadrado made the most of her budding talent to claim a first Elite medal, after taking three rainbow jerseys in last year’s UCI Junior Track World Championships.

Men’s Madison: De Vylder and Van den Bossche wrap it up

The last rainbow jerseys of the 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships went to Belgium’s Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio van den Bossche, who claimed the gold medal in the Madison after they took bronze in 2022 and silver in 2024. The duo lapped the field on two occasions and reached a winning tally of 86 points. This is De Vylder’s second rainbow jersey, after he won the omnium last year, while Van den Bossche takes his first.

Great Britain’s Joshua Tarling (winner of the points race) and Mark Stewart took the silver medal with 76 points. Denmark’s Niklas Larsen and Lasse Leth (both crowned in the team pursuit) won the final sprint and snatched the bronze medal from Germany’s Moritz Augenstein and Roger Kluge.

“It really means a lot,” Van den Bossche said. “I was already emotional at the beginning of the day when I saw some messages from my family supporting me because it was my big dream to become World Champion after all the medals, being second and third. I really wanted to finish it off.”